Belknap Republicans play key role in failure of house parental rights bill

CONCORD — In the narrow vote failing to pass the New Hampshire House’s version of a parental bill of rights Wednesday, HB 10, the absence and "nay" votes of Belknap County Republicans played a key role.

With a roll call vote of 189-195, there were seven representatives from each party absent or not voting, and, on an issue largely expected to fall along party lines, four Republicans voted against. Two of the seven Republicans not voting — Rep. Nikki McCarter (Belmont) with an excused absence and Rep. David Nagel (Gilford) with an unexcused absence — and two of the four who voted against — Rep. Travis O’Hara (Belmont) and Rep. Mike Bordes (Laconia) — are from Belknap County. 

Another parental rights bill, SB 272, will bring the matter back to the House floor in the coming months. SB 272 passed the Senate with unanimous Republican support earlier this month.

Both bills include provisions for parental rights in education largely already provided for under state and federal law, but have key differences. Most notably, the Senate bill would require teachers, if probed by parents, to answer “truthfully and completely” about the gender expression of their child at school. The House bill did not originally include language about gender identity disclosure, and an amendment to add it failed 190-194. 

HB 10, in another key difference from its counterpart from the Senate, included potential criminal and professional penalties school personnel would face if found to have knowingly violated it. The Senate bill limits parents’ potential recourse to civil litigation.

This difference, Bordes said, drove his vote against. 

“I’m not ready to make teachers criminals who are just trying to do their job,” he said in an interview. “I’m not OK with the fact that there were criminal penalties in this bill.” Bordes said he could support SB 272, but that there is some language he would like to see taken out.

O’Hara could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday. 

After HB 10 failed to pass, the house tabled it in a 193-192 vote.